Tolkien himself wrote them, or so Rayner Unwin told me when I asked him this same question. This is important, because the synopsis at the beginning of THE TWO

Message 2 of 7
, Dec 1, 2006

0 Attachment

Tolkien himself wrote them, or so Rayner Unwin told me when I asked
him this same question. This is important, because the synopsis at
the beginning of THE TWO TOWERS actually includes information not in
THE FELLOWSHIP.
--JDR

On Dec 1, 2006, at 10:08 AM, William Cloud Hicklin wrote:
> Oddly it had never occurred to me to wonder about this
> question until just lately:
>
> Did JRRT write the synpopses that appear at the beginning of
> TT and RK, or did someone at A&U do them?
>
> I think this question arose because I have been using a one-
> volume ed. for years, but recently happened to pick up a
> separate RK, and the Synopsis rather jumped out at me.
>
> WCH

Wayne G. Hammond

... Tolkien s authorship of the synopses is documented in the Allen & Unwin correspondence archive: see The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, various dates

Message 3 of 7
, Dec 1, 2006

0 Attachment

John wrote:

>Tolkien himself wrote them, or so Rayner Unwin told me when I asked
>him this same question. This is important, because the synopsis at
>the beginning of THE TWO TOWERS actually includes information not in
>THE FELLOWSHIP.

Tolkien's authorship of the synopses is documented in the Allen & Unwin
correspondence archive: see The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, various
dates in vol. 1 (Chronology), especially 7 May and 15 September 1954. Brief
comments on the synopses may be found in The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's
Companion.

Wayne Hammond

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

"Beregond. Anders Stenström"

... And if I remember correctly, the synopsis in _The Return of the King_ contains, uniquely, the translation of _Cirith Ungol_ as the Spider s Pass . It may

Message 4 of 7
, Dec 1, 2006

0 Attachment

John D Rateliff wrote:

>
> Tolkien himself wrote them, or so Rayner Unwin told me when I asked
> him this same question. This is important, because the synopsis at
> the beginning of THE TWO TOWERS actually includes information not in
> THE FELLOWSHIP.

And if I remember correctly, the synopsis in _The Return of
the King_ contains, uniquely, the translation of _Cirith Ungol_
as "the Spider's Pass". It may seem trivial now, but in days of
yore it was an important piece of confirmatory evidence for those
interested in Elvish.

>Tolkien himself wrote them, or so Rayner Unwin told me when I asked
>him this same question. This is important, because the synopsis at
>the beginning of THE TWO TOWERS actually includes information not in
>THE FELLOWSHIP.

Tolkien's authorship is documented in the Allen & Unwin correspondence
archive: see the Companion and Guide, vol. 1 (Chronology), especially
entries for 7 May and 15 September 1954. Brief comments on the synopses may
be found in The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion.

(Apologies if this message repeats. I thought that I sent roughly the same
from work this afternoon, but as nothing has shown up yet I may have been
mistaken.)

Wayne

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

William Cloud Hicklin

So the phrase great Darkness with reference to Sauron s smog is indeed canonical....... ... when I asked ... synopsis at ... information not in ... Allen &

Message 6 of 7
, Dec 1, 2006

0 Attachment

So the phrase "great Darkness" with reference to Sauron's
smog is indeed canonical.......